Beorn is the character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit who can transform into a bear. He is a large, powerful man who lives between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood and keeps animals around his home.
Beorn helps Thorin’s company after they escape from the Goblins and Wargs. He provides food, ponies, and advice before the travelers continue toward Mirkwood. His assistance is especially important because the group is exhausted and poorly supplied.
His ability is called skin-changing in Tolkien’s narrative. Beorn’s bear form is not presented as a modern superhero transformation; it belongs to the older, mythic atmosphere of the story and is linked to his unusual nature.
Beorn later plays a decisive role in the Battle of the Five Armies. Tolkien gives him a deliberately mysterious background, and the text leaves room for questions about his ancestry and the origin of his power.